Last year, HBO announced its intentions to create a standalone streaming service that would offer HBO to fans without cable. Today, HBO may be less than a month away from launching its new service.
The International Business Times is reporting that the HBO streaming service will be called HBO Now. More importantly, the monthly subscription price is rumored to be $15 a month.
Prior to HBO Now, the only way that viewers could legally watch HBO’s programming was through a cable or satellite provider. While HBO Now will be available online, HBO is reportedly working with Apple to offer HBO Now through Apple TV. Other TV set top devices including Amazon Fire, Roku and Google Chromecast are also expected to feature HBO Now, with Microsoft’s Xbox Live also listed as another potential partner.
Because HBO’s Game of Thrones is one of the most widely pirated series on TV, it had been expected that HBO would launch any streaming service ahead of the fifth season premiere. The report on IBT seems to confirm that theory by noting that HBO Now is likely to launch before Game of Thrones returns on April 12.
The report also notes that the content on HBO Now may differ slightly from HBO Go to “avoid alienating the cable and satellite companies that pay for the rights to carry HBO.” But no specifics were named.
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